Croydon has the most dangerous roads in outer London according to the latest traffic incident figures, with almost twice as many deaths or serious injuries caused in collisions than other boroughs around the fringes of the capital.
Collision central: this crash on Wellesley Road last November was one of 162 recorded in Croydon in 2021
Westminster and Lambeth are the boroughs with London’s highest number of collisions, each recording 221 deaths or serious injuries in 2021.
In Wandsworth, the figure was 174, and in Southwark it was 167. All four are regarded as inner London boroughs.
Croydon’s collisions in 2021 reached 162, nearly 100 incidents more than neighbouring outer London boroughs Merton (75) or Sutton, which with 65 incidents is among the least dangerous boroughs.
Another neighbouring borough, Bromley, recorded 109 road traffic collisions in 2021.
The research by car insurance price comparison site Forbes Advisor also compared the total number of road casualties in each local authority in Britain in 2021 with each area’s population to reveal the rate of deaths or serious injuries per 100,000 people.
The results show Powys as having the most dangerous roads in Britain, with 101 deaths or serious injuries per 100,000 people in 2021.
The City of Westminster, with a rate of 81.9 per 100,000 people, ranks fourth nationally and makes it the most incident-prone part of London. Lambeth’s equivalent rate is 68.7 per 100,000 people.
Croydon’s population-related figure is 41.7, placing the borough 10th among authorities in the capital, with only Richmond among other outer London boroughs (100 incidents/50.5 per 100,000) having a higher rate of collisions per population.
Merton’s ratio of collisions to population was 36.3, while Bromley’s was 32.8 and Sutton was 31.8.
In Bath and North-east Somerset, there were just 18 road collisions in 2021, a rate of just 9.3 per 100,000 population, giving it officially some of the safest roads in the country.
All figures were sourced from the Office for National Statistics.
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